Honestly, I like that first one you posted of Akusesu better than the other three. I think in your case you already had photography down by the time you started attending conventions, so it's not really fair to expect some vast difference or change in style.

I think it is still fair to decide if the newer image shows progress, or is not as good as the older image, whether or not we are already accomplished in photography. We can't always make each photo shoot better than the last. There will be some ups and downs. Some photo shoots are more challenging to make great. Sometimes we have less creative and/or technical ideas flowing through us.

Personally, I like my newer images more than the earliest I posted of Akusesu. I prefer the candid style of posing and the controlled "enhanced" lighting. Also, the colors and contrast pop more in my more recent works through post-processing. The compositions in the newer images are much stronger too.

To match your White Ranger, I post this image from Anime Expo 2007. I was kicking myself afterwards for not staging a jumping kick photo of me with the White Ranger!

Five years later, at Power Morphicon 3, 2012, I got the Power Rangers jumping kick photo beyond my wildest dreams!...No White Ranger, but jumping over 6 Power Rangers from the same show I worked on, was way more than I ever planned....I know..I am in the shot, but I set it all up, and had someone click the shutter.

Here is my friend Angela at Anime Expo 2008. I did not know her when I took this candid photo of her. I ran into her many times since, over the years. Taking candid photos often turns into something good in my experiences.

Angela ( Green costume ) posed for me again in 2011 at my one and only time at Anime LA. Joining her, are her boyfriend Luis, and her friend Dorothy.

Here is my friend Angela at Anime Expo 2008. I did not know her when I took this candid photo of her. I ran into her many times since, over the years. Taking candid photos often turns into something good in my experiences.

It's amazing how many "friends" I have on Facebook due to simply snappnig some candids of folks at conventions. Later we see one another at cons, and it's easier to come up with some shots and ideas for shots.

I didn't even know my first photoshoot was cosplay! A friend (Heki-Chan) from school liked my photography (non-portraits) and asked me to do a shoot with her in 2005.

I was pretty serious into photography, doing photojournalism and landscapes, but my portrait experience was pretty much zero.

Here's an image from my first shoot!:

She loved the shots and introduced me to all of her Canadian and American cosplay friends. At the time she was pretty big in the scene, so I was fortunate to meet and shoot with lots of other awesome cosplayers so quickly!

Here's a shot from a photoset I'm currently working on, taken at the end of 2012:

Over the past 8 years, I've now shot almost exclusively cosplay and portraits.
It's pretty unbelievable to me how just one person in a single photoshoot has changed my life so dramatically.

I met Cosplayer Ginger at my first Pacific Media Expo ( PMX ) in 2009. She was very unpretentious and easy to work with. I probably surprised her with a photo shoot that included a lot of action poses.

I found Ginger many times over the years, and did more photos shoots. I later discovered that she is the founder of an ambitious cosplay magazine called Otaku Sanctuary.
Here, at Anime LA 2011, I took a more gentle photo of her as a Princess, with the happiest frog on earth.

I met Cosplayer Ginger at my first Pacific Media Expo ( PMX ) in 2009. She was very unpretentious and easy to work with. I probably surprised her with a photo shoot that included a lot of action poses.

That photo reminds me of one I took at ACEN 2012. To continue with the theme, I included the only (poor) photo of movement I took at ACEN 2003.

Wow, everyone's progress of 'then and now' are amazing. I hope I make good progress too in the years to come. (I'm sure I will, but I just hope I learn a lot in a good even pace)

I thought I come back and show my cosplay photoshoots of now and then (click them for a larger image if you like). I just started seriously doing cosplay photography back in 2011 so I'm still so slow and new at this. :3 But here are my 'now and then'.

I like trying to provide perspective to an event in the form of a crowd photo. This then and now photo shows a difference over time. Choice of location and even framing makes a difference. Though maybe the most important is what is happening in the photo.